1. Field of the Invention
A modular food preparation station for storing and cooking food stuffs such as pizza comprising a base including at least one temperature control compartment formed therein to maintain the food stuffs within a predetermined temperature range prior to preparation and an infrared continuous conveyor oven to cook the food stuffs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pizzas include a pastry shell with topping ingredients such as tomato paste, cheese, seasonings and other vegetable, meat or similar ingredients. The shell of the pizza must be baked relatively slowly and the shell dough should be cooked through with a flaky tender crust that is browned but not burned, and the topping ingredients not burned.
Pizza ovens typically comprise a tunnel chamber within a thermally insulated casing having openings at opposite ends thereof through which an endless carrier or conveyor extends so that the pizza can continuously enter and leave the tunnel chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,109 shows a product conveyor that has a predominately open area to transport food such as pizzas to be cooked through a thermally insulated treatment zone. An array of nozzles disposed below the conveyor discharges streams of heated air upwardly through the conveyor against the bottom surfaces of the food products on the conveyor for primary heat exchange treatment. A reflection surface forms an upper boundary of the treatment zone and the portion of the upwardly flowing air streams that is not deflected by the food products on the conveyor impinges against the deflection surface and is transformed into downward flowing relatively low velocity air for flow against and across the top surfaces of the food products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,055 discloses a baking oven comprising a thermally insulated casing defining a tunnel-chamber through which an endless conveyor belt extends. Reversing elements at the end of the conveyor belt are supported by brackets that can tilt upwardly to shorten the effective length of the oven for shipment and, with the upper portion of the casing removed, to enable slackening of the conveyor belt thereby facilitating manual raising of the central portion thereof for cleaning structure lying therebelow. The top of the casing serves as a countertop for preparing food and the tunnel-chamber and conveyor belt lie therebelow thus conserving floor space.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,448,678 teaches a radiant-heat cooker employing a housing with a tunnel enclosure portion through which an open-work conveyor passes and in which radiant heaters are mounted above and below the conveyor. The heaters supply ultraviolet and infrared radiation for complete cooking during a single passage. The conveyor is formed of linked bars with one bar having a removable open link.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,307 shows an oven-broiler including a tunnel-form cooking chamber and a conveyor extending therethrough for conveying food products through the chamber for cooking of the products by emission of infrared radiation from the walls of the tunnel. An entrance and an exit are located at opposite ends of the chamber for continuous ingress and egress of the food products at a level lower than the chamber floor for causing the chamber to entrap a heated, oxygen-starved atmosphere in which flaming of the food products cannot freely occur.